Please turn with me in the Word of God to the book of Philippians. Paul's letter to the Philippians. Again, you will find it somewhere near the middle of your New Testament. It is one of Paul's four prison epistles. And this is just an ideal book we said last week for starting the new year because it gives us what is really a Christian frame of mind. And we need to be in the right mindset for 2025. So this book is perfect or ideal to that end. Last week we mentioned how Paul's letter to the Philippians bears all the marks of a dear friendship between Paul and his readers. These were his brothers and sisters in arms. They were his fellow laborers in the gospel. The Philippians were Paul's fellow laborers in the gospel. He loved them and they loved him. And so we saw how he opens by sharing how he continually thanks God for these people. And he prays for them. And beloved, we ought to do the same for one another. But now Paul turns to the obvious matter that would have been on everybody's mind, and that was his own circumstances. Because as he's writing, he's writing from prison in Rome. And so, while the Philippians would have certainly had concern about Paul, that is made explicit in this letter, that is what Paul is addressing, their concern for him. He replies here in a way not unlike his master, the Lord Jesus. In that he gives us what is really an upside down perspective on his own circumstances. It is an upside down perspective on life. And so let's look at that together. Let's read our text. Why don't we stand out of respect for the reading of God's word. My friend, this hit me fresh again. I hope it always hits us fresh. But do you realize that we are here studying the words of our God. Amen. Philippians chapter one, our text is verses 12 through 18. And Paul says this. Now I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel, so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole praetorian guard and to everyone else. and that most of the brethren, trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment, have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear. Some, to be sure, are preaching Christ even from envy and strife, but some also from goodwill. The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel. The former proclaimed Christ out of selfish ambition rather than from pure motives, thinking to cause me distress in my imprisonment. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed. And in this I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice. That's the reading of God's word. You may be seated. And let's ask God to help us understand and apply what he has said here. Our gracious Father in heaven, we take this time once again to stop and acknowledge you and acknowledge our weakness to you. As we sang a moment ago, we need you and we truly do. Even in this moment, we need ears to hear. We need you to help us understand things that, humanly speaking, we might think we know, Spiritually speaking, you know, we need to understand on a deeper level and we need to apply to our lives. Lord, help us not to be guilty of being hearers only this morning, but help us to do your word. Give us grace, Lord. Convict us where we are not applying what your word here has to say to us. Lord, change us through the example of your servant that you have left in this holy text. We ask this all in Jesus' name. Amen. Americans born between 1901 and 1927 have been called the greatest generation. And that's not because they gave themselves that title. This was the generation that came of age during the Great Depression. This was a people that endured hard times. And this was the generation that lived through a world war, a war that on a scale this world has never seen. Some in this generation lived through two of those world wars. Certainly no generation is without its flaws, but their title as the greatest generation has stuck. And this is because of how these Americans proved so resilient in their time. and how they rallied together, they united around a single ideal, namely the ideal of freedom when it really counted. And most particularly they are characterized by their selfless sacrifice, a sacrifice that characterized a generation Men and women, all the way from the top down, as men were willing to lay down their lives on the battlefield, women and those back home here in the States were willing to do without conveniences of life, to sacrifice selflessly for the sake of a greater cause. You see, this was a generation of people that was very aware of the fact they were part of something greater than themselves. Something greater than their hobbies and their ambitions, their own dreams in life, They were doing whatever they could to contribute to this war effort. And similarly, when we look at the Apostle Paul in this text, we see a man that very clearly, very consciously was aware that he was a part of something greater. And he was living and serving and sacrificing for the sake of a greater cause, a cause greater than his own life. Beloved, like the greatest generation, We are a people who live in a war-torn world. I'm talking about the war that rages for the souls of men. The struggle is real and so is our mission. Our mission which we received from Christ himself to advance the gospel here in our local community and to the uttermost parts of this world. And we need to get a hold of the fact then that there's something more important than our personal careers. There's something more important this morning than your personal ambitions for your life. There's something more important than our personal life, liberty, and happiness. And that's the mission to which Christ has called us. Paul's writing amid a time of great personal struggle. He's in prison. He's been in prison for some time now. And he's been slandered. He's being blind and criticized by fellow servants in the gospel. And his readers are themselves locked in a struggle of their own. And yet, here in today's text, we see these orders are very clear. Paul understood his orders remain the same. And today's text holds orders for the Christian. If you are a true follower of Jesus Christ, this text holds orders for you as well. You must advance the gospel whatever your situation. Christians must advance the gospel whatever their situation. Paul supplies two unexpected opportunities. where we see him doing this. These are two unexpected opportunities where you can advance the gospel. Here's the first unexpected opportunity in verses 12 through 14. You can advance the gospel in chains. You can advance the gospel in chains. Now, we typically despise our chains. And we'll consider the sorts of chains that may be represented in this room But in Paul's case, these chains were quite literal. And here in verses 12 through 14, Paul turns his discussion to his own circumstances, which was already in everybody's mind. And he summarizes it as imprisonment. He's going to use that word here, this idea, four times in this very chapter. Because the Philippians demanded to know Paul's whereabouts. And so he says to them in verse 12, now I want you to know. I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel. The circumstances Paul was referring to was his present imprisonment in Rome. Acts 20 tells us how Paul was nearly killed by the Jews. And, you know, having been falsely accused for bringing Gentiles into the temple. And for this he was arrested then for having created a public uproar. And he is ultimately brought to Rome where he's to stand trial. And he remains there in Rome under house arrest in our story. And in fact you can read about this in Acts 28. Paul is at that time and this would be the time when he's writing this letter to the Philippians. Chained to a Roman soldier under house arrest in Rome. And Paul frequently alludes to his chains. You can see in verse 7, verse 13, verse 14, verse 17. Not because he was a whiner. He's not giving emphasis to his imprisonment because he wants a pity party. Actually, the fact that Paul gives relatively zero detail concerning the exact circumstances of his present state is surprising. You might expect something like that. This man, though, didn't want us, or the Philippians, to focus on his present circumstances. He wanted us to see God's purpose in his imprisonment. Because he knew it would not be so obvious. Just like some of the circumstances God has you in this morning are not so obvious to you. You do not see the purpose. You don't like it. We don't like chains. We despise our chains. But God has a purpose. Well, this purpose may have not been obvious. And so Paul wants to inform his readers of what that purpose is. Joe Montana is remembered today as one of the legendary quarterbacks in football history. He led the 49ers to win the Super Bowl in 88 and 89 and was poised to do it again in the 1990 season. And by the way, I didn't watch this game. I was in diapers at the time. But in the NFC Championship playoffs, the 49ers were playing the Giants. So if I was able to, I'm sure I would have been a Giants fan at this point. But they were favored to win. They were favored to go on and win the Super Bowl for a third time in a row, which had never been done before. It still hasn't been done yet. But in a single play, Montana was hit blindside by the Giants defensive end. His arm was broken. and he was taken out of the game. And this goes down as one of those worst sports injuries possible because it ended an entire season. It ended the 49ers game, but also their chance of winning the Super Bowl. And when it comes, I share that because when it comes to the earliest history of the Christian church, there's probably no player so well-known and so widely influential as the Apostle Paul. If the early church were to be compared to a football team, then Paul was like the legendary quarterback. I mean, this guy was unstoppable. You can read in the book of Acts how he enters into Lystra. He is stoned. He is left for dead. And what's he do? He stands back to his feet by the grace of God, re-enters the city, and begins preaching again. Amazing. So you can understand how the Philippians felt as they received news. Paul has been taken prisoner. Paul is in Caesarea. He's a prisoner there. And then Paul has been taken to Rome now. And at this time, Paul is still in prison in Rome. He was in Caesarea for a couple years. He was in Rome now for about a couple years. What does this look like? You can only imagine what a blow this would have been to the morale of all sincere Christians, especially those predominantly Gentile believers in Philippi, because they had this man to thank, by God's grace, they had this man to thank as God's instrument for bringing them the good news of Jesus Christ, for showing them the true meaning of life as it really is. But now, Paul was in chains. Oh, it would have been bad enough to learn that he was beaten again. But to hear that he was still in prison in Rome, of all places, and in a serious trial. There was no telling how it would end. This would mean that in some sense Paul may be thought to be out of the game. He's been sidelined. He's on the DL. This would be absolutely demoralizing because we all despise chains. Chains hold us back, we think. But Paul wants us to see God has a purpose for his chains. Just like God has a purpose for your chains this morning. Verse 12, he says, Now I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel. Here's Paul's basic understanding. God had this purpose for his chains, for his suffering. It is this, the greater progress of the gospel. The Greek word Paul uses here for progress is a word that described the advanced unit of the Roman military. They were the vanguard of the Roman army, the pathfinders. They would go and prepare the way for the army's forward progress to follow. Actually, we know that Philippi was originally founded as a colony for Roman soldiers. It occupied a very strategic location. It held a sizable garrison for Roman soldiers stationed there, including the converted jailer, by the way, who was likely himself a retired soldier. And so it's sensible that Paul's audience would have understood his his advance of the gospel here in these military terms. And the implication would be, I am making a way, I am preparing a path for the army to advance behind me. The gospel is going forward. Paul claims, my circumstances turned out for the greater progress of the gospel. Well, how exactly, Paul, verse 13? So that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole Praetorian Guard and to everyone else. Paul gives us two ways that God's gospel is advancing. Two ways that God was using and had a purpose for his chains. First, his chains were a unique opportunity to spread the gospel of Christ to those who otherwise would not have heard. Paul's reference to the praetorian guard here in verse 13 refers to a special unit of Rome's imperial army. These were the guys charged with guarding the emperor. So you can just imagine Darth Vader's theme music playing in the background. I mean, these are some seriously tough dudes. And these are not the sort of people that would darken the door of a church or visit a synagogue or want anything to do necessarily with the scriptures. But now here's Paul and he's chained to them. And you can't study this text without at some point asking yourself, what would it have been like to be chained to Paul? You know, Paul had a A lot of daring things he did in his life. This was a man who braved all odds and weathered all storms to bring the gospel to anyone. This was the kind of person you couldn't keep away from you if you wanted. And now Paul writes to his friends, oh, don't worry about me. I preach in a lot of different places. I've had a lot of different audiences, but this one tops them all. These guys can't get away from me. In fact, they're chained to me. I preach and they can't get away. You know the expression captive audience? Well, that is true in more ways than one here. You have to wonder, ironically, who's really the captive? Who's really chained to who in this situation? Paul's saying, I've got one every day. I've got a captive audience every day. In fact, Josephus tells us, the Roman historian, that the guard shift was four hours, requiring six men per day. And now these guys were paid very well, they had many responsibilities, not just guarding the emperor, but they would have been tasked with guarding other very important people, senators and such. And they were to stand guard at public events, watch over particularly dangerous prisoners, protect the peace in Rome, sometimes even conduct spy missions or put out fires. And so guarding Paul wasn't exactly a high priority on the list, and that would mean it's unlikely he would have been assigned the same detachment of men. Paul probably got chained to him whoever was not doing anything else. whoever was available at the time. And so at six men a day, assuming some repeat guards, it's not difficult to imagine that over two years time, Paul could have been chained easily to well over a thousand different Roman soldiers. Mind you, soldiers that would not otherwise have been interested in hearing the gospel, most likely. And now if you think this is a stretch that Paul had this sort of an opportunity every day for these two years, just listen to what he says at the end of verse 13. He says, the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole Praetorian Guard and to everyone else. As amazing as this is, it's not difficult to imagine. I mean, here's a guard coming off duty. And he comes into the barracks with his buddies there, and they say, you look like you've seen a ghost. And he says, give me the strongest drink you've got. And they say, why? What's wrong with you? And he says, I don't know. You'll have to hear it yourself. And so the next day, somebody else's chain of Paul said, wow, that guy's crazy. Maybe like Festus, they said, all his learning has made him mad. And then maybe somebody else's chain of Paul says, you know what? I hate to see it, guys. But I think he's the most rational voice. I think it's the most sensible voice I ever heard. I mean, it actually makes sense. And time after time, for a couple years, Paul is continually preaching. You think he preached the gospel? He absolutely preached the gospel. That was his whole perspective in the matter. Paul understood, that's why I'm here. I'm here for these guys. You see, God was with Paul in his imprisonment. And God was certainly breaking hard hearts. Now here's a convicting thought. What if you or I were the one chained? Chained to non-believers 24-7. That would be the ultimate glass house. How would that go, my friend? How would that go for the cause of Christ? Man, if your Christianity is not real, that Christian veneer that we can put on Sunday morning or whenever, it would It would wear off real soon. Being chained to non-believers who mocked you and teased you and tried to get under your skin and all that. Some of you know what that's like because at work, that's the way it is. And yet, rather than being branded a phony, Paul's faith becomes, he says, well-known throughout the whole Praetorian Guard, even the cause of Christ. Man, the gospel was advancing throughout the whole Praetorian Guard, and he adds to everyone else. Now, who would that include? Well, if you read Philemon 10, which was one of these four prison epistles, Paul says that Onesimus, this runaway slave, was someone who was begotten in his imprisonment at this time in Rome. But in addition to Onesimus, there were others. In fact, there were some that went all the way to the top. The impact was felt within Caesar's own household. Do you know who Caesar was at the time? Ever heard of the man by the name of Nero? Nero is emperor at this time. And in what is sort of an anticlimactic note, at the end of this letter, Paul adds to the Philippians, as he closes his letter, he says, all the saints greet you, especially those of Caesar's household. I mean, imagine reading that. Wow. That's a very anticlimactic note. Not only does this confirm Paul's writing from Rome, but it confirms that the gospel has advanced not only into the Praetorian Guard, but into the very household of Nero himself. I'd say the Lord was using Paul's chains. As the scholar A.T. Robertson observed, the opposition to Paul had kicked the gospel upstairs. Those who opposed Paul in Jerusalem could not have imagined that throwing an uproar, throwing a fit over Paul and trying to kill him would have actually drive him all the way to the top. Have you ever heard of the Streisand effect? In 2003, the celebrity Barbara Streisand was upset to learn that a picture of her coastline mansion was included as part of a collection of 12,000 pictures of the California coastline. That's one out of 12,000, mind you. But she ordered her lawyers to sue the website. Before the lawsuit, the photo had only been downloaded six times, two of which were by Streisand's lawyers. But when the story got out, the site's traffic rocketed immediately to 420,000 viewers. And to make matters worse, it went all over the internet. She should have left it alone. In the same way, we see this happening with the church. Gamaliel was right in the Book of Acts. The Jews should have left the Christians alone, but by persecuting them, they were doing the work of God, because they were spreading the gospel to the far reaches of the empire. It's called the Law of Unintended Consequences. Now, in addition to spreading the gospel, Paul's chains provided an opportunity to embolden his fellow Christians in the faith. After sharing how he realizes his chains have advanced the cause of Christ. It has caused the gospel to spread. He adds in verse 14, and that most of the brethren trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear. Here's another benefit. to Paul's chains. And that is, intimidation sometimes backfires. Just look at the cross. Jesus' enemies thought they had crushed his following. And they would have, excepting for that God factor. They didn't reckon on God. And boy, that That will throw off your equation. By hearing of Paul's chains, he says, most of the brethren have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear. Courage is contagious. Some Christians, most Christians, seeing Paul's situation, were inspired in courage to speak the gospel as well. But don't miss a very important phrase here. He says, most of the brethren trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment have far more courage to speak the word without fear. Courage isn't simply a matter of seeing something inspirational, seeing someone do the right thing against all odds. Now you can take this afternoon and you could read Fox's book of martyrs and you would be inspired. You can read the biographies, the autobiographies of men and women of God who gave their lives for the sake of the gospel and you will be inspired in some sense, to do the same. If you're a true Christian, how could you be indifferent? But courage is not passive. You see, it cannot be reduced to mere feelings of inspiration. So Paul says, trusting in the Lord. There's the key. Trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment. They have far more courage. You can read Watch, listen to what other people are doing to advance the gospel in different places in the world and in history. But unless you choose yourself to actually trust in the Lord, you will not speak God's Word with courage. You will not advance the cause of Christ with courage like the Apostle here. We all need this sort of courage, but you won't have it aside from trusting in the Lord. Here's this unexpected turn of events. We've got this legendary quarterback, or if you want to think of it in military terms, this heroic field commander who is captured by the enemy. He's being held captive behind enemy lines. How will the gospel go forward now? What's going to happen now? How will Paul's compatriots respond? Well, they see God's purpose in this. And they are inspired and they are roused to action. And Paul says, don't worry about me. Don't worry about me. If I'm losing, I may be losing. He says, don't worry. The gospel is winning. The gospel is advancing. What an exciting plot twist. If the devil had seen this one coming, he would have left Paul alone. Just like he would have left Jesus alone on the cross, the Bible says, the rulers of this world, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory if they had known that this would seal their own fate. We said chains typically concern us. We despise them, but God has a purpose for our chains. Now we must ask this. What are we doing with our chains? And since our chains are not literal this morning, let me define what I mean by our chains by Your chains are those unpleasant things in your life that you can't change. Those nasty, inconvenient, unpleasant things that you can't rid yourself of. These are circumstances that you are chained to against your will. You may be chained to family that you don't like. You may be chained to financial or physical or emotional situations that you do not like. You may be chained to a body you don't like. I don't know what it is, but now or later, you will find yourself chained to something that you detest. But Paul's example shows us how to respond. First, don't throw a pity party over your problems. So long as you do, you're going to miss the point of what God wants to do through your situation. Some of us, more than others, tend to share our problems. We want others to feel what we're feeling and understand how difficult our life is at the time. Now, we do need to be real with one another. I'm just saying our focus must not be on our pitiful condition, but on the purpose Christ may have for putting us in such a condition. So don't throw a pity party. And second, see your chains as an opportunity. See your chains as the opportunity God has given you to further the gospel, advance the cause of Christ. You know, we may like all the reasons for all of the chains we are experiencing, all the things we are tied to in our life on earth, we might like all those reasons right now. You won't have them. Not now. But, here's one reason that's clear enough. God intends to use your chains for the progress of the gospel. And I'll show you what that looks like in a second. But just understand, what we want to see as obstacles in our life, God wants you to see as opportunities. Don't waste them. Like John Piper said, don't waste your cancer. and there was a man writing from his own experience with cancer. Don't throw a pity party. See your change as an opportunity, and then thirdly, ultimately, put your change to use. Don't waste them. Put your change to use by advancing the gospel in whatever ways you can. I am so thankful for a missionary couple, a certain missionary couple, that visits our church tends to come about at least once a year or so and visit us in the summer and given the chronic medical issues they suffer, one might hear, this is difficult. These folks are chained to some terrible things and I have thought to myself, Lord, what would I do? What would I do if I was chained to this suffering? If I had these chronic medical conditions in my family or my wife or my children or whatever? But when asked how we might pray for them, this brother replied, pray that the Lord would give us opportunities to share Christ with others. Pray that the Lord would show us how we could use our suffering to advance his cause. I tell you, that's advancing the gospel in your chains. And that will not only spread the gospel, but it will encourage fellow brothers and sisters in Christ to speak God's word without fear themselves. Are you chained to some illness? or disability, or some physical malady, something you would like to, if you could, if you had a magic wand, you would zap yourself of it, you'd be free of it this morning. Are you chained to something like that? Are you single? Maybe you consider your singleness a chain, something holding you back in life. Are you married? Maybe you consider your marriage to be your chains. You'd say, pastor, help. I'm chained to a lunatic. I'm chained to someone who drives me absolutely crazy. Help, Lord! Free me of these chains. And that may be true, my friend. It may be true that you'd say, my life cannot get better. My life cannot go forward until I am rid of this. And that may be true, but what if God's will for your life, brother, sister in Christ, what if God's will for your life is not that you would go forward? What if God's will for your life is not that you would move forward, that your experience, your circumstances would improve and get better? What if His will for your life this morning is to actually hold you back and to keep you in chains, that through your chains, he might advance the cause of Christ. That is exactly Paul's situation. Paul said, we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God and who are the called according to his purpose. will you commit yourself to the purpose of God this morning? Paul's given one unexpected opportunity where you can advance the gospel in chains, in those things you want to rid yourself of. But he gives a second unexpected opportunity in verses 15 through 18. You can advance the gospel amid criticism. You've a unique opportunity to advance the gospel amid criticism. Now, we typically despise being the target of criticism, especially when we're being cut down by our own teammates. But this is what was happening in Paul's life, as we'll see. He begins verse 15. Now, some, to be sure, are preaching Christ even from envy and strife. Who's Paul talking about here? When he says some are preaching Christ, even from Evie and Strife, all you have to do is look back to verse 14 to know he's talking about some of the brethren. These are some of the brethren. They are preaching Christ. These are Christian brothers. They're part of Christ's church. But they're preaching Christ with different motives. And you know, this is true in the church today. There are those preaching Christ in our world for money. Does that surprise you that you can get rich, some people can get rich off of preaching the gospel? It's happening. Does it surprise you that there are some preaching Christ to make a name for themselves? There are some preaching Christ to have a platform, to use the gospel as it were as a bully pulpit, to preach their own agenda. or further their own agenda. But Paul adds, some also preach from goodwill. And verse 16, the latter do it out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel. Paul did not appoint himself to defend the gospel. He's saying, I was appointed. Christ appointed me. I am his apostle. But notice that the conflict Paul's referring to, this envy and strife, was personally directed at himself. How do we know that? Well, in verse 17, Paul mentions some were proclaiming Christ out of selfish ambition rather than from pure motives thinking to cause me distress in my imprisonment. So these preachers were proclaiming Christ. They were wearing the Christian uniform. They were claiming to advance the cause of Christ in this world But they've got something personal against Paul and they were out to undermine his reputation, his ministry. To bring it back to the sports analogy, if we were to imagine Paul as this legendary quarterback that has now been pulled out of the game, you can only imagine those Paul is referring to here as these sorts of jealous second and third string on the bench. And they're just rubbing their hands together and they're saying, oh, it's about time. He's out of the way. Paul was getting too old. You know, he was not always that accurate, you know. Some of those passes, I could have made them better. And on and on they could go, taking jabs at the veteran who's lived long enough that it's not hard to point out his humanity and even his sinful tendencies and failures. He's got problems like everyone else. And all this they do to say, I could have played a better game than that. You know what that is? That's pride. And that ugly, poisonous tendency we have to poison our teammates, to cut down our fellow teammates, is in the heart of every believer in this room. It is part of our sinful fleshly nature. to tear others down so that we might build ourselves up on their ruins. In all honesty, it's sometimes easier to deal with the major frontal assaults of the devil than to have to deal with a Brutus or Cassius. You know who I'm talking about? Those figures that will stick a dagger in your back. You think they're your friends, but they will turn against you when the opportunity is ripe. In the same way, we see Julius Caesar had conquered many barbarian hordes, but he was put away by some of his own friends and accomplices. And in the same way, after being in prison for faithfully preaching Christ, here come these backstabbing novices. They plant their own flag on Paul's ministry, everything he's given his life to, and they throw him under the bus. How would you respond? in that kind of a situation. Man, that's difficult. You're serving the Lord. You're sacrificing for the Lord. Here comes this knucklehead then, these knuckleheads who seek to add to your, add distress to your situation. To heap sorrow upon sorrow. We would expect Paul to get up and issue a fiery rebuke on those who are casting his name in the mud, but he doesn't. He doesn't. Here's a man who knows. I'm not perfect. And I have made failures. And more importantly, he knows, God has a purpose for the criticism we receive. Verse 18, what then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed and in this I rejoice. Paul rejoiced to hear that Christ was being proclaimed. regardless of his proclaimers motives, regardless of how they were targeting him. And this shows Paul was less concerned about what people thought of him and more concerned of what people thought about Christ. I believe one purpose God has for the criticism we receive is so that we might loom small and Christ might loom big. God wants to use the criticism in your life to minimize you. That's why we hate criticism. It makes us feel small. It minimizes us and that is exactly what God intends to do with us, my friend. He wants us to be small that Christ might be big. Do you know the name Paul means small? Little. I think that's extremely ironic given the fact that Paul was, Paul is, the Apostle Paul, probably the biggest household name in the history of the Christian Church. He was so influential. This guy is a star. I mean, he's a legend. And yet how fitting that his name means small because Paul himself recognized, I am the least of the apostles and not fit to be called an apostle because I persecuted the Church of God. But by the grace of God, I am what I am. 1 Corinthians 15, 9 and 10. Paul wasn't concerned about Paul. Paul was concerned about Christ. And our problem is this morning that we get too big. We're too big. I'm not talking about. Wait, okay, that may be an issue too, but I'm talking about having a big name for ourselves, where we get so big that we no longer fit into Christ's plan for our life. You see, you have an idea of how you should be treated and how you are to be used in Christ's cause, but that may not match up with what Christ has for you. You know, we have this idea of how big we are in God's vision His vision may not be near so sizable for us. When we make ourselves big, like Job did in the way he addressed God, or Nebuchadnezzar in the way he flaunted his glory, God has many ways of minimizing us. So beware. God can even use sinful people. Yes, God can even use false criticism leveled against you to whittle you down to size. We despise criticism. We know how this is. You know how this is. You could receive 10 compliments in a day, but it's that one small criticism that sticks with you, right? That you continue to turn over in your mind. We despise criticism, yet God has a purpose for allowing us to receive criticism, so we must ask, what are we doing with the criticism we receive? What are you doing with the way other people tear you down? What's your response? Paul says, verse 18, what then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in this I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice. When others in the church criticize us, And by the way, I'm not talking about me coming to you or somebody coming to you and giving you a biblical rebuke. I'm talking about me saying something falsely against you and slandering you and being evil to you. And I don't want to do that on purpose, but we all will sin against each other. I'm talking about somebody saying something against you that you really don't deserve. It's not true. It's wrong. But in such cases, When you're being torn down so that people can build their egos on top of your ruins, you have two choices. You can either fixate on what is being said about you, or you can fixate on what is being said about Christ. And if you're okay with getting small so the gospel can get big, you will rejoice in Christ like Paul. Or like John, John the Baptist. John the Baptist was a great preacher. And crowds would come great distances to hear him preach. But then Jesus showed up. You know, sometimes when Jesus shows up in a person's life, he will shrink you. And John began to shrink. His crowns dwindled. And so his fan club came to him and said, Look, everyone's leaving. They're going after Christ. You're getting smaller. He's getting bigger. And John said, That's exactly right. Yes. He must increase. I must decrease. That's the attitude of the apostle here. That's why Paul can rejoice. Because he's not losing anything he really cares about. Not with respect to Christ being advanced. Paul refused to fixate on what's being said about me. That's why we lose sleep sometimes. That's why we go crazy. We've got all this general anxiety disorder. I mean, at least for some of us it could be the case. Simply, we're so obsessed with what other people tonight or tomorrow, whenever, are thinking of us. And the message of Paul here would say, get over it. Obsess over Christ. Fixate on what really matters. Paul didn't mind if he loomed small to the point of being thought a complete fool, so long as the saving glory of Jesus Christ would be proclaimed. If you follow Christ, you will meet with troubles without in the world, and you will meet with troubles within, within the very household of God. You will have perhaps even brothers and sisters in Christ that you love turn against you and say false things about you, and it will hurt. But Christ's orders remain the same. You must advance the gospel, whatever your situation. In this text, we see someone who, by all accounts, is a star player. And that's why this is such a beautiful text. We look at Paul and say, wow, what an amazing servant for Christ. But Paul's saying, no, I'm not what matters. The gospel is what matters. The gospel is what matters. If you can begin to see, if you will hold that perspective, I do not matter. I am willing to lose so long as the gospel will win. If you will hold that perspective, this will change how you behave, how you carry yourself in your life, how Christ is advanced in your life, Christ is advanced in your marriage, Christ being advanced in your home, your family. in your place of work, in your church, and on we could go. We might look at Paul's situation and say, he's losing his life. He's losing his life to his chains. His life is being wasted. He's being destroyed by false criticism. But Jesus said, whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. And that is what Paul was experiencing. True life. Let me ask you, brother or sister, are you so in love with Jesus this morning that you would say, even if I lose, even if I get small, even if my name is forgotten and thrown under the bus, or if God wants to hold me back with these changes, these circumstances in my life, even if that means my life doesn't get better by my standards, and I lose, I'm okay. I rejoice so long as the gospel wins, so long as Christ is glorified in my life, I'm okay. That is my love and devotion to Jesus. Is that you this morning? That is Paul's testimony, and that's the challenge of this text. If you're here and you'd say, I honestly don't know, Pastor. I don't know if I belong to Christ. I don't know that I have ever been born again. Or maybe you hear this sort of a message and you say, that's completely foreign to me. That's not at all the sort of way I understand Christianity. Please talk to me. I would love to answer any questions you may have from the Word of God. Let's pray.